On 18 November, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Russian Federation Rahman Mustafayev visited the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. The Embassy delegation included Counselor Samir Akhmedov and First Secretary Anar Kazymly. At the meeting, the parties discussed the issues of enhancing cooperation between Azerbaijan scientific institutions and JINR, with special attention paid to training highly qualified personnel for the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Rahman Mustafayev met with representatives of the National Group of Azerbaijan at JINR. The delegation visited the Laboratories of High Energy Physics and Neutron Physics at JINR, including the MPD pavilion of the NICA Accelerator Complex. A tour of the JINR Main Facilities interactive exhibition was organized for Embassy representatives in the Mir Cultural Centre.

JINR Director Grigory Trubnikov, Vice-Director Sergey Dmitriev, Director of the Laboratory of Nuclear Problems Evgeny Yakushev, Head of the International Cooperation Department Otilia-Ana Culicov, and Head of the National Group of Azerbaijan at JINR, a DLNP senior researcher Nazim Huseynov attended the meeting at the Institute’s Directorate.

“For Azerbaijan, being a Member State of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and cooperating with it is of great importance through the prism of both fundamental science and applied disciplines, which may have practical significance for our country,” Rahman Mustafayev stressed. JINR’s applied projects in Azerbaijan can be used in “green” energy, proton therapy for tumours, seismic activity forecasting, and solving the environmental problem of the Caspian Sea shallowing. Rahman Mustafayev expressed gratitude to the Directorate of the Institute for creating comfortable work environment for scientists from Azerbaijan. “We will move on and work further,” the Ambassador said.

Touching upon the tasks of preparing the younger generation of scientists, Rahman Mustafayev shared an idea of holding a meeting at Embassy with a presentation of the JINR scientific activities for Azerbaijan students who study at technical universities of Russia. Today, about 8000 such students study at 42 leading universities of the country. In addition, a Russian-Azerbaijan University is being established in Baku through partnership with Saint Petersburg State University.

Grigory Trubnikov noted that the Joint Institute is ready to actively engage in personnel training in the interests of the Member State. The JINR Director stressed that JINR employees from Azerbaijan participate both in the Institute’s projects and in the largest international collaborations of CERN and other European experiments. “When working in an international team, researchers get involved in big science. Upon coming back to Azerbaijan, these specialists are practically forming directions for education at universities in fundamental sciences: mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology,” Grigory Trubnikov concluded.

The Director of the Institute highlighted that digital technologies and big data are becoming another important area of the JINR–Azerbaijan collaboration. It is also necessary to establish academic exchange in this area. In recent years, he noted, the cooperation with the universities of the Republic have significantly expanded. Grigory Trubnikov said that the JINR delegation’s visit to Baku is scheduled for next week. The Institute’s employees will give lectures at universities and visit a number of scientific organizations of the country.

JINR has maintained ties with the national scientific centres of Azerbaijan throughout its history. Scientists of the Joint Institute work with their Azerbaijan colleagues in many research areas and projects of the Institute, including the NICA Accelerator Complex and the IBR-2 Research Reactor, theoretical research and studies on neutrino and astrophysics, and the JINR information and computing infrastructure. Specialists from Azerbaijan are trained and interned in Dubna; scientific exchange visits happen regularly. Citizens of the Republic participate in internships for young scientists and specialists of the CIS, and JINR JEMS training programmes for administrative and scientific personnel.